


Strange Bug in a Strange Land

by MusdyBuddy



Category: Bug Fables (Video Game), Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Here we go obligatory bug fables/hollow knight crossover, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, No beta we die like master and bit, The Knight is Called Ghost (Hollow Knight), This caters specifically to me but you guys can read it too I guess, ghost has everything but their nail, mild spoilers for Leif’s Request??? Maybe????, takes place after bug fables and the embrace the void ending of hollow knight, theres not enough bug fables fanfiction and I’m taking matters into my own hands
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:34:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28307592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusdyBuddy/pseuds/MusdyBuddy
Summary: Ghost, the god slaying Lord of Shades, has somehow found themself on the surface, far from Hallownest. Unsure of what to do next, they wander around in search of something to do. Good thing the bugs around here are so interesting.Or, Leif is no longer allowed to go grocery shopping alone.
Comments: 24
Kudos: 141





	1. A Chance Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> bug games,,,,,,

Leif, Royal Blade of Queen Elizant II, was on a grocery run. The team had run out of food earlier that morning, and after a tense game of Rock Leaf Claw, the moth was given a decent amount of berries and sent to the commercial district. 

Exiting Madame Butterfly’s shop with a satchel full of aphid eggs, crunchy leaves, and drops of honey, Leif pondered. _We do have a few berries left. We could head to the Termacade for a bit._

Vi and Kabbu would have to wait for breakfast, Leif decided. Sticking a leaf into his mouth, he walked next door to enjoy himself a bit. 

“Hello Leif! Here to finally get that high score on Mite Knight?” The termite behind the counter greeted.

“That’s the plan.” Leif answered. “We’d like 25 tokens.” He said, sliding the leftover berries over the counter.

“Alrighty then, you’re all set!” The cashier said cheerily, handing the mage his coins. “Good luck!”

“Thanks.” With his tokens in hand, the moth walked over to the cabinet, inserted his tokens, and began grinding out ants in the game.

What he didn’t notice, while engrossed in virtual reality, was the small, cloaked bug watching him from behind.

* * *

  
Ghost, the Lord of Shades, the God of Gods, and the slayer of the Old Light plaguing Hallownest, was confused.

To be fair, any bug would be confused if they, after completing their life’s purpose, suddenly woke up in a completely different land, so different, yet similar, to the one they’re used to. 

The little knight had been wandering around this new kingdom, listening to any bugs that had something to say, forming a mental map of the places they’d been, and had ended up drawn to this strange red building by the upbeat music coming from it. Inside, there was a handful of bugs. Two of which, Ghost couldn’t identify the species of. 

Another thing to add to the list of weird things in this place. 

The next thing added to that list was the fact that, apparently, there are Moths here. 

Standing in front of, and probably using, one of the building’s machines, was a bright blue Moth. He looked a bit like a blue Thistlewind, actually. 

Concluding that this Moth would most likely be the most interesting thing they’d come across for a while, Ghost walked up near the bug in question and waited. It would be rude to interrupt whatever they’re doing, after all.

* * *

  
Leif breathed a sigh of relief. 10,064. He had finally beaten the old high score.

“Congratulations! You really are a Gamer, huh?” The employee nearby cheered. “Here’s your reward!” She dropped a bag of tokens into the cold claws of the moth. 

“Thanks. We’ll be sure to come back again, but for now we should be getting back to the others.” Leif said, putting the tokens into the satchel. He’d have to answer to an annoyed Vi, but it was worth it in his eyes. Plus, he wouldn’t be sent to go get groceries early in the morning again any time soon.

On his way out of the Termacade, he almost tripped over a small, horned bug who had been standing below his line of sight. “Ah, sorry.” Leif apologized.

The young bug didn’t respond. _…weird, but ok._ The moth thought. Assuming the interaction was over, he sidestepped around the little bug and left the arcade. The strange little bug, however. Wasn’t done, and followed behind the the cold bug that they had deemed interesting.

After a few minutes of hoping the child would get bored and stop following him, Leif turned around to confront them.

“Uh… kid?” Leif asked cautiously. “What are you doing?”

No answer. _Are they mute? That might be a problem._

“Hm. Are… are your parents nearby?” He asked. If they really can’t talk, they could nod or shake their head.

The child hesitated for a moment, tilting their head to the side cutely, before shaking their head.

 _Ah._ Leif thought. He could feel himself getting attached. 

“Do you know where you are?” 

They shake their head again.

 _They’re lost and confused… No one to keep them safe._ The mage could feel the tendrils inside of him coil in worry.

“This is the Ant Kingdom Commercial District.” Leif went quiet for a second . “Do you… have a place to go back to?”

A pause, they were thinking. After a moment, the child shook their head no.

_They don’t have a place to return to… Vi and Kabbu aren’t here to stop us…_

“Would you like to come with us?” Leif asked, not at all hoping for a specific answer and not at all because this strange, silent child also happened to be extremely cute.

A longer pause this time. A nod.

Leif struggled to hide his joy. He was already thinking of having little Chompy play with this new child. Of course, he would have to explain this new, adorable acquisition to his teammates, but he shoved that thought to the back of his mind, in favor of happier thoughts.

“Alright then.” The moth said calmly, extending a hand for the small, horned child to hold. _We’ll have to ask Kabbu if he knows what kind of bug they are. Definitely some kind of beetle._ The little bug grabbed Leif’s hand and began to walk alongside him. 

“You know, if you’re going to be staying with us we need a name to call you by. Can’t keep calling you Kid.” The child looked up and made a few symbols with their free hand. 

“Sign Language? We did learn some Bugarian Sign a… long time ago. Unfortunately, we don’t recognize those signs.” _The signs must have changed while we… Kabbu probably knows the newer signs, that’s just another thing we’ll have to ask him._

The child, understanding that their signs went over the moths head, went with a different strategy. They kneeled on the ground and used a claw to draw something into the dirt. It looked like a traditional bedsheet ghost.

“Your name is Ghost?” Leif asked. He was surprised to be met with happy nods. 

“…Alright then, Ghost. Lets head home. We’ve left our teammates waiting long enough.”

* * *

  
Kabbu was not having a very good time. Leif had gone out to get groceries hours ago, and he still hadn’t come back yet! 

“Ugh!! We’ve been waiting on that idiot for HOURS!!!” Vi shouted angrily. “Next time I’ll just go myself!”

“I’m sure he has a good reason for his lateness, but I can’t help but be worried…” Kabbu sighed. “If he isn’t back in ten minutes we’ll go see what he’s doing.” 

Luckily, they didn’t need to wait that long. Their estranged teammate came walking through the door, wings wrapped around himself just a _little_ too tightly.

“ABOUT TIME!! I’m starving!” Vi yelled at the strangely nervous moth. “Where’s the food??” 

Leif removed his satchel carefully and handed it to the irritated bee. “We uh… got distracted, sorry.” Leif stated calmly.

 _No banter?_ Kabbu noticed. Normally Leif would leap at the opportunity to mess with an annoyed Vi.

Said bee was too busy rifling through the satchel to notice that, though. What she did notice, however, was a heavy bag of Termacade Tokens poorly hidden underneath groceries. 

“SO THAT’S WHAT YOU WERE DOING?? YOUR POOR TEAMMATES WERE STARVING AND YOU WERE AT THE ARCADE???” The short bee was moments away from bonking the moth in the head with her beemerang. 

“…Yeah. Sorry. Again.”

“Ugh, whatever!” Vi shouted, grabbing a crunchy leaf and a drop of honey. “I’m going to Fry’s!”

Leif became just a bit less tense when she stormed out the door. “Kabbu, aren’t you going to go with her?”

The beetle narrowed his eyes. “No, I think I’ll stay here.”

“…Are you sure?”

“Leif.”

“…Yes, dear teammate?”

“Your plan may have worked on Vi, but I’m not going to fall for it.” Kabbu laughed. “What else did you do while you were gone?”

Leif shuffled. “Plan? We don’t know what you mean.”

_Does he really think this will work?_

“You admitted to the lesser thing you did to try to get us off your back. You’re definitely hiding something. I’m sure it’s not even that bad!”

Leif went still.

“…Were we really that obvious?” He sighed.

“I have just known you for a long time. If it makes you feel better, it did work on Vi.” The beetle chuckled. “Now, you wouldn’t mind telling me what you did, would you?”

The moth shuffled again. “Alright. But, once we show you, promise not to freak out.”

“Again, I’m sure it’s not-“ Leif opened his wings, revealing the small child he had been hiding under them.

A beat of silence.

“LEIF-“ Kabbu took a moment to collect himself. “Leif. _Leif._ You STOLE a CHILD???”

“We didn’t steal them!” Leif defended, “We asked if they wanted to come with us and they said yes!”

“Leif, you cant just go picking up random children off the street!” He paused and took a few deep breaths, he did say he wouldn’t freak out. “You are aware that what you did is essentially kidnapping right? You have to return them.”   
Leif pat the child’s head. “They said that they have nowhere to return to, and that their parents aren’t around.”

Kabbu blinked. “So you agree to bring a small child with no parental supervision home? You really didn’t think this through, did you?”

“We admit we may have not planned that far ahead, but they came willingly and seem to be enjoying themself.” He held the child up to the beetle. “Plus, look at them. Do they look like they should be running around without anyone watching over them?”

The child seemed miffed about that last comment, but Kabbu had to admit, he didn’t know what would happen if such a young child was left to their own devices, with no family to go back to or place to go home to.

Kabbu was silent for a few moments, _I can’t believe I’m about to say this._

“Alright. They can stay.”

Leif smiled, setting the child down. “Hear that, Ghost? We got Kabbu!” 

“Is it too late to say no?” 

“Yep. No take backs.” 

Kabbu took a leaf from the satchel and began to crunch on it. “We’ll still have to see if there’s someone out there looking for them, though. If there is, we’ll have to give them back.”

Unfortunately, Kabbu’s message seemed to fall on deaf ears, as the moth was far too busy feeding Ghost honey drops to notice or care.

Kabbu sighed, smiling to himself. He really did enjoy seeing his teammate so happy. Plus, he had to admit. They are pretty cute.


	2. Talks Between Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this story gets a bit of extra visibility from the hollow knight fandom i feel like i should recommend a great bug fables fic, so read Long Gone if you like Leif, please they deserve clout more than i do

“I don’t think you planned anything past ‘grab the child and bring them to our home.’” Kabbu joked from across the table. “What were you even going to to after we got back?”

“Honestly, we were planning on just pretending they were supposed to be here. We hoped you wouldn’t notice.” Leif stated, without a trace of sarcasm in his voice. “We’ve all had worse ideas, though, so you have no right to judge.”

The beetle quirked a metaphorical eyebrow. “Really? You slandering Vi isn’t a new thing, but to think you would attack your dear companion!”

“Mhm. You aren’t exempt.” Leif leaned in, resting his head on his intertwined hands. “Remember when we were exploring the Sand Castle and you tried to stop a giant, rolling boulder with nothing but your _horn_?”

An embarrassed blush crept onto Kabbu’s face. “But-“

“We don’t know why you gave Tanjerin so much trouble,” Leif interrupted before Kabbu could defend himself. “You clearly aren’t much better.”

Before the lighthearted argument could develop into a lesson on the intricacies of horn differences between various types of beetle, a short, well-fed, and considerably less angry bee walked through the door.

“Hello, Vi! How was your breakfast?” Kabbu asked.

“Uh, good?” The bee answered, eyeing the corner of the room where Ghost sat, fiddling around with the pins on the inside of their cloak.

“…What’s that?” The confused bee questioned, staring at the child.

Leif mumbled something about failed plans under his breath.

“Er, What Leif means to say, is he found a young bug lost in the plaza, and brought them home so they wouldn’t get hurt.” Kabbu explained.

Vi’s expression shifted from mild confusion to amused disbelief. 

“That’s not a bug.” She stated, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “What kind of bug looks like that?”

“Rude. Ghost is just a beetle.” Leif chided. 

“You have a beetle sitting right across from you! Kabs, you’ve been all over the place! Have you ever seen a beetle like that?” 

Kabbu fidgeted. He hated having to side with one teammate over the other. “Well… it is true that I haven’t seen a beetle like Ghost before, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t a bug at all. They could just be a type of bug that isn’t native to Bugaria.”

“What kind of bug are they then? Where did they come from?” 

“I don’t know! It was just a suggestion!” Kabbu slumped over, defeated.

Leif thought for a moment. “Why don’t we just go ask someone who does?” He suggested. “Venus knows a lot of things, sometimes even too much. It wouldn’t surprise us if she knew anything about Ghost as well.”

“That’s a wonderful idea, Leif! While we’re in the Golden Settlement we could also see the Fortune Teller and see if he can give us some more information, however vague it may be.” Kabbu looked over to Vi, expectantly.

“It’s not like we had anything else to do today, I guess.”

* * *

Hornet was curious about the fate of her small half-sibling. Just days before, she had been waiting outside of the Black Egg for the vessel to return and seal the fate of Hallownest, but they never came. Instead, the infection had completely disappeared from the Crossroads, and her birth-cursed sibling came staggering out of the egg that had served as their prison for many, many years.

She brought the injured Hollow Knight into the tiny town of Dirthmouth, claimed the largest house there and set to work, cleaning and stitching the void leaking wounds closed. Once her half-sibling wasn’t in danger of dropping dead on the spot, she went off to find the small vessel, and ask just what they had done to eradicate the infection so completely.

She didn’t find anything.

There was not a single trace of the Ghost of Hallownest anywhere. None of the bugs that managed to survive in Hallownest had seen them recently, so she began searching for a cracked shell or fragments of a nail. That search had also drawn up nothing. Ghost had completely disappeared alongside the infection that had been plaguing the kingdom.

And so, Hornet was right back where she started, in the house in Dirtmouth, tuning her needle next to her newly-named sibling. 

“Hallow, you and our siblings are connected through the Void, yes?”

“ _Yes_.” The large vessel signed in response. 

“Can you sense any now?” This was essentially Hornet’s last lead on where Ghost could be, and she was prepared to at least have closure on the fate of the little knight.

There was a pause from Hallow, like they were lost in thought. 

“ _Yes. Very far, though._ ”

Hornet had to stop herself from leaping up in surprise. “Where?”

“ _Far north. Can’t tell exactly. Too far._ ”

“So they’ve somehow gotten outside of Hallownest.” The spider stood up. “Hallow, I need to go… gather some information. I will return with the exact whereabouts of our wayward sibling.”

She herself had little to no knowledge of the wastelands outside of the kingdom, but she did know one bug who did. Luckily for her, they were very easy to order around.

* * *

Quirrel was content. After completing his life’s purpose, he had settled down in the small town right above the Forgotten Crossroads, and slipped into a nice routine. Wake up, converse with Elderbug, haggle with Sly for any interesting trinkets he’s found, visit Cornifer and Iselda, tune his nail, hunt in the Crossroads, return home and relax, repeat.

The former traveler was in the middle of the last part of his routine, reading an interesting book about a star-born child defeating increasingly dangerous foes, when he was startled by the sound of the door being slammed open.

…or, at least he would have been, if it had been the first time this had happened.

“Hello Hornet, I’m glad you’re doing well.” Quirrel said, without looking up from his book. “Do you need something, or are you here for the usual harassment?”

“Very funny, Scholar, but I am in need of your assistance.” The princess was obviously irked. Quirrel would be intimidated, her needle was sharp and she had been trained by the Hive Queen herself, after all, but he doubted the spider would hurt him. 

“What do you need?” The pillbug asked, finally looking up at her.

“I have found a lead on the whereabouts of my sibling,” Quirrel closed his book. “And I need to know what lies far to the north of this kingdom.”

“Of course.” The scholar stood up and retrieved a stack of maps, sifting through them and stopping on the largest one. A map of the lands he had traveled before returning to Hallownest. Not as nice as Cornifer’s, but it served him well.

Quirrel sprawled the map out and pointed out a location marked with the symbol of an ant. “The only thing that lies north of Hallownest is a relatively new kingdom known as Bugaria.” The pillbug explained. “The entire kingdom is on the surface, and is split into four smaller kingdoms, each with their own customs and laws. They rely on an underground source of magic to prevent the land from becoming a wasteland. I wanted to see this ‘Mother Crystal’ as they call it, but outsiders-“ 

“Scholar, return to the topic at hand.” Hornet interrupted. “Exactly how long would it take to get there on foot?”

“Apologies, Princess, it’s quite the unique place.” He chuckled, further irritating the spider. “It’s about a weeks walk with minimum breaks.”

Hornet thought for a moment. “Very well, then.” She looked Quirrel directly in the eye and held out a hand. “Give me your map so that I may find my way there.”

“What? No!” He exclaimed, grabbing his map and holding it away from her. “This map is extremely important! I can’t just give it up!”

Hornet drew her needle and glared, dangerously. Quirrel didn’t falter.

The standoff continued until Hornet spoke. 

“Fine then. If you do not give me your map then I will just have to bring you into the wastelands with me.” She threatened, returning her needle to her back.

“…Alright. I suppose I’m coming with you, then.”

Truthfully, Quirrel had already been planning on tagging along, but he’d allow Hornet to continue believing it was a difficult choice. 

Hornet huffed and turned around, about to walk out the door.

“Wait! You aren’t planning on leaving now, are you?” the pillbug asked, incredulously. 

“Yes. What of it?” She questioned.

“You don’t have any supplies! No plants grow in the wastelands, and no bugs can survive there so it’s impossible to hunt! We at least need to prepare rations! Even if you ignore the food shortage, a map won’t help much without a compass, and the wastelands are extremely cold, so proper clothing is required, along with some form of portable shelter, or at least bedrolls, and I’m sure Hallow would appreciate being informed of your plans-“

“That’s enough, Scholar.” Quirrel stopped talking. “You have six hours to prepare for the journey. You are to meet me at the Howling Cliffs when your time is up. If you are even a moment late I will not hesitate to kill you and eat your corpse during my travels.” 

With her threats done, she strode out the door.

Quirrel sighed, picking up his old travel pack and stowing his map inside of it. He supposed he couldn’t escape the call of exploration. He would have to retrieve enough supplies to last both bugs the entire week of traveling. He would have to go quickly, as well. While he knew that Hornet wouldn’t actually murder and eat him, he didn’t want to keep his friend waiting.

Either of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blue Lake? Never heard of her.


End file.
